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The coal truth
Join our panellists discussing their contributions to this unique new book, published at a crucial juncture in one of the most important struggles in our national history.
Since 2012, the fight to stop the opening of the vast Galilee coal basin has emerged as an iconic pivot of the Australian climate and environment movement.
The Coal Truth: the fight to stop Adani, defeat the big polluters and reclaim our democracy provides a timely and colourful contribution to one of the most important struggles in our national history – over the future of the coal industry. Written by an environmental insider with an eye on the world his daughters will inherit, The Coal Truth is told with wit and verve, drawing in other specialist voices to bring to life the contours of a contest that the people of Australia can’t afford to lose.
Join contributors Tara Moss, Berndt Sellheim and Lesley Hughes, and lead author David Ritter for the national launch of The Coal Truth: The Fight to Stop Adani, Defeat the big polluters and Reclaim our democracy. Each panellist will discuss their contributions to this unique new book, published at a crucial juncture in one of the most important struggles in our national history.
This event was held at the University of Sydney on Tuesday 12 June 2018 in partnership with Greenpeace Australia Pacific.
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Panellists
Lesley Hughes is an ecologist in the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University and an expert on the impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems. She is a councillor with the Climate Council of Australia, the co-convenor of the Terrestrial Biodiversity Adaptation Research Network, Chair of the Tasmanian Climate Action Council and a member of Climate Scientists Australia and the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.
Tara Moss is an author, novelist, documentary maker and presenter, speaker and human rights advocate. Since 1999 she has written 11 bestselling books, published in 19 countries and 13 languages, including the acclaimed Mak Vanderwall crime fiction series and the Pandora English paranormal series. She is a PhD Candidate at the University of Sydney and has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2007.
Berndt Sellheim is a poet, author, photographer and academic. He has taught creative writing and poetics at UTS, and lectured in philosophy at Macquarie University, where he completed a doctorate in phenomenology. His poetry, critical work and photography have been published in periodicals and collections such as Meanjin, Heat, Liminal Pleasures, Overland, Best Australian Poems, Cutwater, Eyeline Contemporary Arts Journal, and The Journal for the British Society of Phenomenology.
David Ritter is chief executive officer of Greenpeace Australia Pacific. He holds honorary affiliations at the University of Sydney and the University of Western Australia. Before taking up his present position at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, David worked for Greenpeace in London in a series of senior campaign positions. Prior to joining Greenpeace, he was one of Australia’s leading Indigenous rights lawyers. David is a widely published commentator on current affairs and is the author of two books on Indigenous land justice: Contesting Native Title (Allen & Unwin, 2009), and The Native Title Market (UWA Publishing, 2009).
David Schlosberg is Professor of Environmental Politics in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney, and Co-Director of the Sydney Environment Institute. He is known internationally for his work in environmental politics, environmental movements, and political theory – in particular the intersection of the three with his work on environmental justice. He is the author, most recently, of Defining Environmental Justice (Oxford, 2007); co-author of Climate-Challenged Society (Oxford, 2013); and co-editor of both The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society (Oxford 2011), and The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Political Theory (Oxford 2016).
Header image: book portrait.